President Trump ordered a probe Tuesday into potential new tariffs for China, while protecting the country’s mineral supply chain.
Breitbart reported that President Trump directed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to start a national security probe of the tariffs on critical U.S. imports, which include rare earth elements. This comes as the country has seen a record number of tariffs aimed at helping to bring down inflation.
In his executive order, President Trump stated that rare earth elements, in the form of processed minerals, are essential raw materials for national and economic security. The current problem is a global supply chain vulnerability, which President Trump aims to address.
In the order, he had written, “But processed critical minerals and their derivative products face significant global supply chain vulnerabilities and market distortions due to reliance on a small number of foreign suppliers.” He added, “The dependence of the United States on imports and the vulnerability of our supply chains raises the potential for risks to national security, defense readiness, price stability, and economic prosperity and resilience.”
Currently, the U.S. relies on imports of minerals despite having untapped resources in the ground. For example, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, in 2024, mineral products were the 4th highest imported product into the U.S. Breitbart reported that while the U.S. does produce some lithium due to push for electric vehicles, the country does not have a refining industry for copper, cobalt or nickel and instead relies on other countries.
President Trump highlights the problem of relying on foreign sources, which is price manipulation. In his order, he said, “widespread price manipulation, overcapacity, arbitrary export restrictions, and the exploitation of their supply chain dominance to distort world markets and thereby gain geopolitical and economic leverage.”
This new probe into critical U.S. import tariffs could aim to challenge foreign sources that dominate the industry. China has been the prime suspect of investigations into predatory pricing and mineral dumping. The Commerce Department has been directed to produce a draft report within 90 days and a final report another 90 days after that.